So I just spent 53 minutes recording my play session only to discover that I had my recording software configured incorrectly.

As someone who's started recording gaming. I FEEL YOUR PAIN. So many times I found out the stream setting was wrong, or the SSD filled up, or the volume of the game OR my mic wasn't balanced. Or the recording software wasn't recording the video or audio correctly and I'm stuck with a black screen with audio for my whole speedrun.

I've adapted to mostly eliminate those. One of the best things is having OBS run on a separate monitor so you can always watch the status.

[edit]

PUB freakin' rules:

-----sig:“Programs should be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.” - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs"Political Correctness is fascism disguised as manners" --George Carlin

I play in 4K but my computer can only record at 1080p without killing my frames. Also, I have to play in low detail mode. But the 4K means I get WAY better view at distances.

-----sig:“Programs should be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.” - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs"Political Correctness is fascism disguised as manners" --George Carlin

PUBG does look good, but for $40 and Windows-only I think I'll just add it to my wishlist and keep an eye on the price. I've also been screwed a few times by "Alpha" sales where when the real game comes out I suddenly have to pay again. Not sure if that happens on Steam, but it's fucking crooked.

I'm also worried that without having a good mic and being very sociable that it'll be a very lonely, boring, and hopeless match. Most of the fun seems to be panicking with and/or berating/praising friends. Not sure how much text chat is used in game (if even possible).

It's $30, not 40. The devs said there are no plans for sales, especially since they've already sold over 2 million copies. It's already the #1 most popular game selling game on Steam and #2-#3 in concurrent players.

No text chat. We use our own voice chat on Discord, but PUB does have voice built-in.

There's a lot of panic in the game. The guy who made it has been perfecting the idea for awhile and this is his 3rd game doing it.

100 people. Start in a plane. Plane has a random line direction over the map. You jump out and parachute (as 100 other people do!), but first pick the best possible location. Do you want to get great loot? Then you'll have to fight tons of other people early on. Alternatively, you can try and get far away from the plane and loot the scraps so you can get a reasonable weapon loadout.

Every few minutes a circle of blue wall closes in. If you're outside wall, you get hurt. The more times the circle shrunk, the harder it hurts. You can med up and survive the first one or two. But if you don't get ahead of it, you'll soon play a losing match of "run away from the wall."

Vehicles are great for moving fast. But they're LOUD AS HELL in a game where half the battle is knowing when NOT to shoot. You DON'T want everyone to know where you are. Some vehicles carry only 2 people, some 4. Some are slower. Some have 4-wheel drive and provide varying levels of bullet protection.

You can take a vehicle and go only to the next circle end. Or, you can head to the center.

Once the blue wall finishes shrinking to the next iteration to the next "white circle" on the map, a ticker starts again (2 mins, then 1 mins, then 45 seconds, etc) a new "white circle" (where the new safe zone is) pops up, and the blue wall will begin shrinking again.

So there's all kinds of strategy "Do I vehicle it? If I can even find a vehicle..." verses proning slowly across fields, or crouch running along the hill line and then cutting down through some cover.

Each match lasts less than 20 minutes max, and if you die you can immediately start a new one (which takes 2-3 minutes to load). And the game... it's stressful and intense almost the entire way. You don't have any time to take your headphones off (<--really recommended! Sound is very important for spotting bullet directions and hearing footsteps.) to take a phone call or let the dogs out.

The likelyhood of winning is almost zero. I've won less than 5 matches in >50 hours. But it's not about "winning." A win, being the last person alive (or last duo or squad of 4 alive), is like winning the lottery. Just getting to the last 10 people alive is a huge achievement. So it's not so much about "winning" but about getting better and further than before.

I strongly recommend playing with friends though. Without that, the game would feel like such a painful slog that most people will become discouraged and frustrated. Playing solo is fun at times, but playing with friends is where it's at in this game. Otherwise, you play 10 minutes, let your guard down for a split second, turn a corner and find someone shotgun you to the face and your round is over.

Weapons are balanced well too. It's always a cost-benefit risk to "scavenging enough stuff" before the blue wall comes, AND, "what if I encounter enemies in that block of buildings and die?" But even the crappiest weapons are still enough to kill most end-game people if you're careful enough.

Go and check the (few) NEGATIVE reviews on Steam. They all still say "Great game. Except X."

-----sig:“Programs should be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.” - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs"Political Correctness is fascism disguised as manners" --George Carlin

Normally alpha purchases on Steam doesn't mean having to pay again. With Steam, it's more like pre-ordering a game, but you get alpha/beta access until the game is complete.

---Febreze (and other air fresheners actually) is just below perfumes/colognes, and that's just below dead skunks in terms of smells that offend my nose.MiquelFire.red | +MeWindows 8 is a toned, stylish, polished professional athlete. But it’s wearing clown makeup, and that creates a serious image problem. ~PCWorld Article

Well fuck it, I decided to buy it since I happen to have a surprise "vacation" day today. I can't even play it on my desktop (not only because of Linux, but also because of graphics). However, I have my work laptop often enough and it should be able to handle it, at least on low settings... In 20 minutes I can give it a try and see if I wasted CAD$37.

It's fun, but yeah, it's hard to manage time and resources without getting left behind. You either die because you're closed out of the play area, or you die because you walked into a trap trying to stay in it. I did manage about 3 kills this last game, but still died at like 39/95.

Append:

Made it to 7/95 this time! Only one kill. Finally I got killed by a sniper watching the tight circle I was trying to get to...

I watched a video of someone playing that game where they got #1. They only did like, 5 kills. They only won because they stayed away from people and didn't fight until they had to, by which time there were only a few left. I think that sort of play style will grow old really fast. I know I would get annoyed if I was consistently getting high kill counts but losing out to people who run and hide then snipe you at the last moment.

I don't think anybody gets high kill counts. It just isn't that kind of game. It seems to actually simulate bullet drop so even just shooting is non-trivial unless you're standing right next to the guy. Even then, it's harder than you may think to hit him before he hits you! It really is that kind of game: avoid confrontations until you have to. That's still no guarantee of success though. It probably helps a lot if you have friends. If you're playing solo like I am then you're guaranteed to be forced into a tiny circle with about 10-20 guys that want to kill you to survive themselves. Good luck.

The most frustrating part is that for some reason my gun often goes off accidentally. I don't know if that's part of the game, or I'm hitting a key combination by mistake, but it's incredibly frustrating. You're trying to be stealthy, and all of the sudden KAPOW! A big ass rifle goes off. I wonder where you are. It just got me killed at position 16 because I was approaching a tight circle near the end of the game and my rifle went off. A guy must have been nearby and killed me when he heard my shot.

I really wish that you could spectate after you die though. You've invested so much in this game. It would be nice to see how it ends (what happens to the asshole that shot you).

Append:

I guess Neil got post number 1337! Congrats! Technically I guess I did if you count the OP.

Do any of you know where the bitmap font used in al_create_builtin_font originates? Did one of the devs custom make it, or was is it from a font somewhere in the wild? I'd love to have it in as a TTF file.

EditIf it doesn't exist in TTF form, I can make one.

Edit EditI turned it into a TTF file using fontstruct.com. I've attached it to this post if anyone wants it.

I think if you're part of a squad, you can spectate your teammates when you died at least.

---Febreze (and other air fresheners actually) is just below perfumes/colognes, and that's just below dead skunks in terms of smells that offend my nose.MiquelFire.red | +MeWindows 8 is a toned, stylish, polished professional athlete. But it’s wearing clown makeup, and that creates a serious image problem. ~PCWorld Article

Do any of you know where the bitmap font used in al_create_builtin_font originates? Did one of the devs custom make it, or was is it from a font somewhere in the wild? I'd love to have it in as a TTF file.

I'm pretty sure that is built in. I remember the conversation many moons ago about putting one in.

Edit:

Quote:

I turned it into a TTF file using fontstruct.com [fontstruct.com]. I've attached it to this post if anyone wants it.

Thanks, grabbed it. It would make a nice console font for input. There are freefonts out there too in TTF format that are royalty free, no legal ramifications attached to using them. http://www.fontspace.com/gnu-freefont

I really wish that you could spectate after you die though. You've invested so much in this game. It would be nice to see how it ends (what happens to the that shot you).

You can spectate in team matches. I would love a kill cam so you can tell the last 5 seconds that led up to your death so you learn from your mistake.

-----sig:“Programs should be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.” - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs"Political Correctness is fascism disguised as manners" --George Carlin

There are tons of lookalike BIOS fonts that are FOSS. Just google for them if you need them.

-----sig:“Programs should be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.” - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs"Political Correctness is fascism disguised as manners" --George Carlin